Thousands Take Part in Hollywood #MeToo March Following String of Sexual Abuse Allegations. Credit - Twitter/steadyjenny via Storyful1:00

Thousands participated in the #MeToo March on Sunday, November 12, walking down Hollywood Boulevard in light of the recent sexual allegations that have surfaced in the entertainment industry. Marchers held banners and signs reading “Unite to Fight Patriarchy” and “Me Too!” to voice their solidarity with victims of sexual violence. Survivors also gave speeches recounting their own experiences. The #MeToo movement began in October when actress Alyssa Milano, following allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, sent out a tweet inviting women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted to write “me too” as a status. Facebook reported that 12 million posts, comments and reactions were recorded within 24 hours of the tweet. Credit: Twitter/steadyjenny via Storyful

November 13th 2017

3 months ago

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There’s more to these two emojis than it may seem.Source:Supplied

A BOWL of rice and a bunny rabbit, side-by-side. On the surface, this pair of emojis looks ordinary enough.

But for millions of women in China, it now represents a defiant response to sexual harassment, gender inequality and the Chinese authorities.

Here’s what it really means.

HOW #RICEBUNNY BECAME A TOOL FOR ACTIVISTS

The Me Too movement — which originated in Hollywood in October last year — was brought to China on January 1 by Luo Xixi.

Inspired by the hashtag’s popularity in the United States, the Beihang University graduate wrote a 3000-word post on Chinese social media network Weibo, revealing she had been harassed by her former professor Chen Xiaowu while completing her PhD.

The post fast went viral, prompting the education authorities to sack Xiaowu.

Last year, the main social media account of China’s leading feminist organisation, Feminist Voices, was removed for 30 days.

The group received a notice from its host, Sina.com, informing the organisation that it had been banned for law violation.

“Hello, because content you recently posted violates national laws and regulations, your account will be banned for 30 days,” the notice said, according to the organisation.

Just prior to the notification, the account had posted an article about the then-upcoming Women’s March in the United States, which may have triggered the ban.

In other cases, authorities can be more direct in their mission to quell protest.

In 2015, Chinese authorities arrested five young women — known as China’s “Feminist Five” — for handing out stickers about sexual harassment ahead of International Women’s Day.

News of their arrest spread around the world and sparked a global outcry, with the hashtag #FreeTheFive going viral on social media.

Members of the group described the traumatic interrogation processes they were subjected to, with one of them, Zheng Churan, saying state security even continued to call her home while she was suffering from post-traumatic stress.

At the time, Chinese President Xi Jinping was getting ready to co-host a United Nations summit on women’s rights in New York — a hypocrisy Hillary Clinton directly called out.